LP solon: Binay now free to call Aquino admin ‘evil’

NOW that Vice President Jejomar Binay has resigned from the Cabinet, he is now free to call the Aquino administration “evil,” a Liberal Party congressman said Monday.

Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice said Binay of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) has gotten what he needed from the administration.

Binay is now free to criticize the same Cabinet he had served for five years, especially because he is sure Aquino will not endorse him as his successor in 2016, the most vocal opponent of the Vice President added.

“I am sure he has already got what he wanted from the Aquino administration and he is now sure that he will not be endorsed by President Aquino. He will now use the administration as his punching bag and hit it to his heart’s content hoping that that this might divert the corruption issue being lodged at him,” Erice said.

Binay faces corruption allegations before a Senate sub-committee that he, as then Makati mayor, pocketed kickbacks from the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Parking Building, among other infrastructure projects.

“A trapo at heart and mind, VP Binay will now see and say an all ‘evil’ description of the [administration] that for five years he had served,” Erice said.

The Liberal Party lawmaker said Binay is also free to gather all the opponents of President Aquino – from the allies of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos who was deposed from power and succeeded by Aquino’s mother Corazon, to the supporters of ailing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was detained in the hospital for plunder.

“He will now gather those opposed to President Aquino, from Marcos to [Arroyo], and all those who would want the good all days of traditional politics and fight not for principles but for survival,” Erice said.

Erice had called on Binay to resign from the Cabinet, calling the Vice President two-faced politician for gaining out of his position while his allies denigrate the administration.

“Panahon na upang ilabas ni Vice President Binay ang kanyang tunay na kulay at huwag na mamangka sa dalawang ilog. Kakampi ba siya ng administrasyon o pinuno ba siya ng oposisyon?” Erice had said in his privilege speech.

BACKSTORY: Binay dared: Show your true colors, quit Aquino Cabinet

Binay “irrevocably resigned” on Monday as the chief of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Presidential Adviser on OFW Affairs, according to Binay’s spokesperson Atty. Joey Salgado.

Binay resigned from the Aquino Cabinet even though he was the most trusted government official with a 57 percent trust rating and 58 percent approval rating according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Aquino came in second with a 54 percent approval rating and a 50 percent trust rating.